


The Real World

by Duckii



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Foster Family, Camp Counsellor Jasper, Canon ages, David is a good dad, David works as a primary school teacher when it's not summer, Fluff, Foster Care, Humour, Jasper is alive, Max does like David, Max doesn't like Jasper at first, Max is his top priority, Multi, Nikki's crazy, Slow Burn, Swearing, Tabii and Nikki dislike one another, british spellings (sorry xD), he just doesn't like to show it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 22:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11300247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duckii/pseuds/Duckii
Summary: David loved working at Camp Campbell--Every year he looked forward to the summer where he could leave the city and head with his ward, Max, to the camp in the forest where he could truly be himself and this year was no different.Well, maybe a little. This year, his boss Cameron Campbell had supposedly hired new camp counsellors to help David and Gwen out. David's ecstatic, Max isn't.But life is always changing in the real world and sometimes, that change can be good.





	1. Beautiful Times

**Author's Note:**

> Camp Camp is like my favourite youtube show at the moment, the characters are amazingly done and the art style is cute af. (Michael Jones is my favourite voice actor like omfg xD) 
> 
> Remember to go watch it if you haven't already! The show's on the channel Rooster Teeth (and it's fucking awesome!)  
> NOTE! - I don't own Camp Camp or any of the characters involved in this story :) 
> 
> With that said, enjoy~
> 
> ======================================================

Birds chirped loudly throughout the crystal blue sky, the apple green leaves danced throughout the milk-warm breeze and the animals of the forest sung their praises as a rusty jade green car drove down the fence laced dirt road, it's mahogany red stripes dulled with dirt and age. The pine and spruce trees rocked from side to side in tune with the fauna as the clouds painted the venetian blue sky with images of a much more beautiful world but to the main inhabitant of the car, there wasn't a more perfect sight than reality inside nature.

Long, slightly pink fingers tapped against the brown steering wheel in tune to the quiet country songs that filtered through the old radio the car was equipped with, a grin stretched across the driver's face as he heard the beloved lyrics to a familiar chorus. The nostalgia of a similar journey filling the red haired driver up with the same innocent excitement a child had on Christmas morning. He nodded his head along, his freckled cheeks curved up with a smile and his green eyes finding wonder in panoramic views. Going back to Camp Campbell was truly his favourite part of the year.

In the back of the car, the muffled sound of indie music echoed in the air. Narrowed cyan blue eyes glowered out the window, staring at the forest as the car drove past, a disinterested expression adorning the tanned face of ten year old Max as he sat tucked up in the back seats of the family car, his feet propped up to push against the driver's seat and his small hands grasping onto an old model of a touch screen phone, of which displayed what seemed to be a music video that replicated the image of a teenager's perfect fantasy world. Over his ears were a pair of worn navy headphones which consequently pushed down his fluffy mass of black hair that usually sat mess and dishevelled on top of his small head. Despite the expression the child wore, he seemed relaxed, the familiar sights of the landscape and the friendly, reassuring face of the driver seemingly consoling the ten year old into a state of content. 

The redhead hummed along to the dominate song, momentarily taking one hand off the wheel to turn the rear view mirror, his emerald eyes looking back at his bright eyed ward, of whom felt the eyes on him and looked up. Momentarily stubborn blue clashed with calming green in a competition to see who would look away first. Max, in his lack of interest, diverted his gaze, looking back out at the woods, watching a blue bird soar in the upside down ocean, it's small wings fighting against the wind as it waltzed with the leaves.

"Twenty more minutes until we're there! Aren't you excited, Max?" The man cheerfully asked, turning his eyes back onto the road as he made a smooth left turn down a even smaller dirt road that was marked with a decaying wooden sign covered in ivy which read : To Fun! (Camp Campbell). 

Max rolled his eyes in a mixture of boredom and nonchalance, shrugging, "If by excitement you mean a sudden urge to kill myself, then yes. I'm  _thrilled_ ," The child answered, his voice sarcastic yet slightly playful, as if the tone was a common recurrence between the two, which it was. The back and forth comedic tone (usually started by Max) was one that usually sparked a reassuringly familiar banter between the parent and foster child. Ever since David had gotten Max, it had just been their  _thing_. 

"Well, what about Nikki and Neil? Aren't you excited to see them?" David then decided to ask, knowing that Max's favourite part about the summer camp was his two partners in crime of whom he only really saw face to face at the camp, "I was told by Gwen herself that both of them are coming back this year!"

The ten year old huffed, "Yeah, that's cool I guess," He muttered, playing a disinterested voice, but David could see through it with ease. After looking after Max for a good two years now, he could tell whenever the child was excited about something even when he was trying to pretend he wasn't. Despite his calm expression, David could see the sparkle of joy in his eyes, the way his lips curved upwards slightly in a smile, "Don't you have something better to do, David?"

David blinked, cocking his head some as he grinned, "Better than what? Asking my favourite camper how he's feeling?"

Max shrugged again, shuffling up further on the seat, turning his eyes back at David in a slight scowl, his arms folded, "I don't know. There's gotta be some big fucking thing on your mind--Like, what's up with Campbell? Is he actually gonna show up this year?" The black haired boy asked with a raised brow, tilting his head some to meet with David's eyes in the mirror.

"Now that you mention it! I _do_ have a big announcement!" David exclaimed joyfully, his eyes sparkling as bright as his toothy grin did, "This summer there's not going to be just one! Not three, but two new camp counsellors joining us!--One of them is a  _very_ old friend of mine! So I'm stoked for you and the rest of the Camp Campbell campers to meet them!" The redhead announced with actual excitement in his voice. He was practically bouncing in his seat as he spoke, radiating that childlike giddiness.

That caught Max's full attention. For a split second his eyes widened, his brows raising in surprise. He blinked, speechless. Max had not been expecting well... _that_. A new camper? Maybe. Max could deal with a new camper, he could easily ignore them for the entire summer but Max couldn't ignore a new counsellor--What if he or she wasn't like Gwen. Max's eyes widened even more. What if they were another David?

"Fuck," Max accidentally said out-loud. 

"Language!" David scolded in his parental fashion, before he started to hum in thought again, "I'm sure you'll like them Max! They're very well equipped for the job!" The redhead piped before he made another turn down a road, this time it was actually marked by a Camp Campbell sign--Cameron Campbell's worn out, half done face sprouting his signature catch phrase upon the wooden sign that looked old with rain.

Max narrowed his eyes at the sight, "And that looks even worse than it did last year--Holy fuck did someone spray paint over his eyes?" The tanned boy jumped up on his seat, pushing against his tight seatbelt (courtesy of David after what happened last time), his hands on the window as he stared out of it in an awestruck excitement, "That's fucking genius! David! Can we stop and add on to it?"

"No Max, that's vandalism! Besides, don't you want to get to the camp first so you can pick the best tent?" David asked cheerfully, knowing that the tents were now put up by the Quartermaster and were practically _nailed into the fucking ground_  after last summer where Nikki decided it would be a good idea to leap on top of each and every tent during the night, collapsing them. Max wasn't complaining though, it was less work for him now and hey, it was pretty funny seeing Nikki attack Ered before apologising profusely with her cheeks red. 

Max shrugged, "Well, they're exact clones of each other so there's not much of a choice," He then moved back into his seat, "Oh yeah--" Max's furrowed his brows, pointing at David, "Do not bring up the whole 'David is fostering Max out of the good of his fucking heart or something' thing to the new counsellors," Max warned, folding his arms and rolling his eyes.

"Why not?" David inquired with a smile, "It's to be embarrassed about, Max! Besides, I thought you liked that you were being fostered by me," The counsellor tilted his head, slightly confused.

Max laid his palms flat out against the red car seats, his eyes slightly wide as if he was taken aback by David's question. He turned his eyes away then, his hands making little fists as he tried to think about how to reply, his brows furrowing as he looked down, "I do, it's just..." 

The red head smiled softly in understanding. He knew Max wasn't trying to offend him he just wasn't too keen on new people really knowing much about him, "It's ok, kiddo. Chin up ok?" When Max didn't respond or show any signs of really cheering up, David hummed, "Hey, what do you say after we're all set up we drive down to the nearby town and get some ice cream?--The rest of the campers shouldn't be here for another couple of hours at least,"

"You sure you wanna have that crappy excuse for ice cream again?" Max then asked with a laugh.

David laughed in response, "Well, no--What do you want?"

"Pizza," Max stated simply with a shrug, "You can call a pizza hut from out here,"

The camp counsellor shook his head with a grin adorning his lips, "Alright, fine--But Gwen's getting one too," As Max didn't object, seeing as he actually quite liked Gwen (and the woman did get him a Christmas present last year), David's grin widened but then he blinked, his eyes widening as they fell on familiar sights, "Oh my gosh! Max! Look! We're here!" 

Max turned his head to look out the front window, rolling his eyes at David's excitement, though he couldn't hide the amused smirk that tugged at his lips, "Oh joy," He commented sarcastically, "Can't wait,"

The car made it's last turn to one of the two car parking spaces besides the camp counsellor's cabin, the breaks being initiated and the car slowing down to a stop. Once the ignition was turned off, David turned around to his young ward, "Ready?"

"I call carrying the smaller bag!" Max exclaimed loudly as he undid his seatbelt and hopped out the car, shutting the door behind him as he walked around to the boot, opening it and pulling out a small plastic bag of which contained bags and bags of instant coffee they had bought on the way, per Max's request. The other plastic bag contained a small coffee machine as in her rampage on the tents last time, Nikki accidentally broke Max's old one. 

David climbed out the car as Max struggled with his suitcase, the man stretched out his stiff limbs, breathed in the forest air and then noticed his child's struggles, "Max! Careful, you might hurt yourself!" The man walked around to the boot as Max stepped aside, taking the suitcase out with ease, "There we go!"

Max glared, but accepted the help.

Minutes later, the boot was closed and all their luggage (and the coffee related items) where out, Max relatively calm and David jumping with glee at the sight of the camp--Every fucking year Max swore this happened, usually it was worse when David had a bad run with the children he looked after in his other job, being an assistant teacher and all. Max rolled his eyes at the all so familiar sight, opening his mouth to say something when--

"David! Max! Hey!"

"Gwen!" David exclaimed with pure joy in his voice, jogging over and scooping the lanky girl in his arms, "I've missed you!"

Gwen made a choked noise of pain, "Gah can you, I don't know, don't hug so hard?--You literally saw me last week," David was grinning as if he had just won the lottery as he put her down, taking in the familiar sight that was Gwen, who was already dressed up in her camp counsellor uniform, her eyes sparkling and a smile tugging at her lips. She turned her head and met eyes with Max as David trotted off to take in the nature, "Hey, kid,"

"Hey," Max greeted simply, "How's the failing career?"

"He's still a snarky little shit!" Gwen called back to David who turned and grinned, knowing it was all in good fun, "God, I thought David was becoming a good influence on you after I saw you at Christmas,"

Max shot out a hand, pointing accusatorially at her, "We do  _not_ talk about that!"

Gwen laughed, "Why not? You looked absolutely adorable when you fell asleep on David!"

"I WILL END YOU, GWEN!"

As Gwen shot past David, laughing hard and loud as she ran from the ten year old, who was scarily dangerous when angry despite his small size, David turned to look at the boy who, if looks could kill, Gwen would had probably died three times over.

"Max, what's with the frown? Cheer up! Don't you want to go find your tent?"

Max rolled his eyes, "Yeah yeah, whatever," He started to retreat when he stopped, turning to scowl at Gwen, "Watch your back over the next few days," The counsellor stuck her tongue out at the child, who then quickly got his stuff together and headed off to go claim his tent, one preferably at a good distance from all the others and away from the counsellor's cabin.

Once Max was gone, Gwen turned to David, hands on hips, "You know what? I'm proud. You've actually been a good influence on that kid. He seems...Happy. Still cynical as hell, but happy,"

David laughed, "Well, it's been nearly three years now, Gwen," The redhead pointed out with a smile on his face, "Max has finally relaxed I suppose," He then shook his head, meeting with Gwen's eyes, "You seem...Happy though. Did something happen?"

"Did something happen?" Gwen repeated with a laugh, "David, we have two camp helpers coming this year, our boss has finally upgraded our cabin and we won't have a bunch of kids complaining about having to put up a tent?--I'm fucking ecstatic," David smiled in response, agreeing with Gwen on some level (he was pretty excited about the other campers coming--and not hearing Max and Neil fight over who was going to put up the tent).

Giving in, David grinned, "Ok, that is pretty amazing,"

Gwen grabbed onto his shoulders, shaking him frantically, "We actually get our own fucking rooms this year!--Sure they're small but we're not in fucking bunk bends!" David cheered in response, laughing loud and happy at Gwen's cheerfulness--It wasn't everyday when Gwen was radiating joy.

When Gwen released David she then smiled, nodding towards the cabin, "C'mon, I'll give you the grand tour!"

"Alrighty!" David chirped in response, grabbing his luggage and following after her.

* * *

 

Max leisurely strolled through the green forest towards the sapphire lake, the smell of fresh air surrounding him as he trotted down towards the main source of water, knowing that a few of the tents were being put down there this year as a way to separate out the camp and organise the campers. The short boy pulled his suitcase behind him, his free hand stuffed into the double pocket of his hoodie, holding onto his touch screen phone.

"And...Here," Max stepped back onto his heels, halting to a stop beside a stray tent, far away from the others. It was fairly large and was a reasonable distance away from everything. The child nodded to himself, smirking, paying off the Quartermaster last year really paid off. He wheeled his suitcase through into the ivory coloured tent, putting it beside a familiar looking bed before picking up the whiteboard and pen on the bed his suitcase was beside and writing his name on it, walking outside the tent and hanging it from a branch, displaying that this was his tent--leaving a little space below his name for someone else to take the second bed although, he knew that was going to be Neil's bed soon.

With a huff, Max pulled out his phone, narrowing his eyes at the lack of internet before stashing it again, smiling quietly, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he didn't completely dislike Camp Campbell. Though, in the pit of his stomach, he felt like his opinion could slightly shift with the upcoming months, but as long as he had his friends, he doubted that he'd mind.

"God damn I hate this place,"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thats is for chapter 1!  
> It's a little testy chapter, so if you do like what's happening here do comment down below telling me so and leave a kudos so I know to continue!
> 
> If you have any questions, feel free to ask :) 
> 
> UNTIL NEXT TIME!  
> \- Nico


	2. Waving Through A Window

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "When you're falling through a forest and there's no one around, do you ever really crash or even make a sound?"

Boisterous laughter echoed around the cramped space inside the derelict lemon coloured bus; the sound of the forest drowned out by the loud eager chatters that came from the many campers who stampeded around the inside of the vehicle, throwing paper planes and cups of pudding alike around the little open space they had, placing bets on the events that would conspire in the later months.

"Two bucks says Space Kid'll get stuck on the fan in the cafeteria again!"

"Five says Nurf is the one who puts him up there!"

From the back of the bus, the overweight bully raised a brow, sitting forward to face the younger campers, "Wow. That's pretty narrow minded of you, Neil. Just because I self identify as a bully, doesn't mean I have a habitual instinct to inflict violent acts upon others," The redhead responded in his usual grumble, folding his arms and meeting with the pale blue eyes the younger camper carried.

 

Neil gulped. Before he had time to respond however, the overly energetic cyan haired girl who sat next to him jumped up on her seat, shooting a fist to the sky as a enthusiastic grin tugged at her lips, "I bet Dolph's fake moustache collection that Ered will do something cool!"

"That's a cool bet," The half awake teenager commented from the back of the bus, her feet slung over the seats in front as she looked up from the cheap sunglasses she wore, her lazy yet some how cool aesthetic making Nikki's heart flip as she looked to the petite brown haired boy who sat in the seat opposite hers.

"HAND OVER THE MOUSTACHES!" Nikki yelled, screaming out a battle cry as she leapt from her seat like an enraged monkey, her hands extended as she pounced on the german accented boy who yelped as he was tackled down to the floor.

"No! What are you doing!?"

Neil winced as he heard the sound of something being torn, diverting his eyes from the sight of Nikki practically devouring the other camper to look out the fogged up windows the bus was built with; it was hard to make out his surroundings, but Neil could see the nearby trees as they drove past and the official sign that marked the camp's location, spray painted by Nurf after a rebellious rampage last summer. Neil unconsciously rubbed his arm, that Chinese Burn had really hurt...

"As a level 12 healer, I shall use my mystic light blast to heal you!" The enthusiastic, lisp accented voice of Nerris caught Neil's attention after Nikki returned to her seat, the girl holding onto a fake packet of Hitler moustaches between her scarily sharp teeth. The very sound of the usually quiet girl turned Neil's eyes away from the window and over to Dolph, who was stumbling back up to his feet just as the dark skinned girl trotted over, her trusty twelve sided die in hand. 

Unlike last summer, Nerris wasn't decked out in her dwarf beard and helmet, instead she now wore a pointy blue hat and elven ears--Obviously someone had watched Lord of the Rings, Neil thought to himself as he shook his head.

"Uh...Nerris, I think you're hurting him," 

Nerris waved her hand at her 'bus buddy', the other magic kid of the camp who carried the name Harrison, "Nonsense! With my high skill in arcane magic he shall be healed in no time!"

Dolph didn't seem convinced by her reassuring words, "Not to offend you or anything, little elf, but you don't seem to be healing me," 

She gasped, "Is my mana not at a high enough level to heal you!?"

"No...?" Dolph responded, confused--Though Neil didn't blame him, Nerris changed her act every summer--The first year he had came to Camp Campbell, meeting Max and the others for the first time, Nerris was something called a 'Magical Girl' and wouldn't stop throwing glitter at everyone. It was safe to say the act got annoying quick.

Harrison snickered, shaking his head, "Your magic can't heal him, Nerris because the magic required to heal him has to be of the strongest magician of them all!--Also known as me! Harrison!" 

Neil let out a loud groan in protest, "Not this shit again!--Come on guys! We're not even at the camp yet!"

"You can't be the strongest magician because I'm the strongest sorceress!"

Nikki blinked, opening her mouth to say something when the bus suddenly screeched to a halt, practically ever camper (except the few who managed to catch themselves in time) were flung forward into the seats in front, groaning in pain. Neil's face effectively smushed into the seat above whilst Nikki hit her jaw on Neil's bony shoulder, her hands wrapped tightly around her mouth in pain as she fell back into her seat.

"The kids are here," The driver, Quartermaster grumbled as he opened up the glass doors the bus owned--The kids falling down the steps and onto the grass, whining about their faces and or the lack of internet they suddenly got, although that was mostly Ered.

Neil huffed as he trotted down the metal steps, Nikki leaping out like a monkey. The two took a deep breath, taking in the forest air before they grinned to each other. 

This summer was going to be sick.

* * *

 

When David heard the sound of the bus, it was safe to say he was caught of guard. His green eyes widened in shock as he bit into his slice of Hawaiian pizza, his acoustic guitar laid across his lap with the two pizza hut boxes on a tree stump a few centimeters in front of the fallen log both he and his young charge was sat upon; Max sitting crossed legged with his DS tightly in his hands as he continued his play-through of the newest pokemon game, his face screwed up with concentration. Unlike David, when the sound of the bus' large wheels were heard driving down the dirt path, Max didn't even flinch.

"Hey look, the other shits you have to deal with are here..."

David hummed, a grin stretching across his lips as he finished up his bite, clapping his hands together to get the flour off his skin, his green eyes sparkled as they looked to the dark haired boy as he finished up his oh so compelling pokemon battle, "I can see that, Max! Let's go give them the old Camp Campbell welcome shall we?"

The black haired boy rolled his eyes, shutting his DS as he turned his bright blue eyes up to his guardian, "I don't know. Are you asking me or are you telling me? Because either way I'm not going to do it," With a lazy shrug Max took the last slice of pizza, stashing his DS away in the double pocket of his hoodie. David gave him a disappointed look and before Max could take a bite, David leant over and took the slice away, taking his own bite out of it, "Hey! Don't steal my shit!"

"Well if you want it, come say hello to the campers with me!" David chimed, "It'll be a fun reward for you at the end!" The redhead stood up, moving around the log and standing a meter away from the child who folded his arms, confident.

Raising a brow, cockily amused, a smirk pulling at his lips, Max shook his head as he slowly stood up, "Or I could take it from you,"

David took a step back, "Well, if you're going to take it from me, you'll have to catch me won't you?"

"Is that a challenge, camp man?" Max was fully stood up now, his expression half disinterested, half amused, as if he was trying to not show the playful intrigue that he had about the situation on his face, "Because I can run pretty fast,"

With a knowing nature, David nodded, "Yes, when you actually try Max you are a fast runner, but I'm faster," The redhead then started to run, "Now, let's go! We wouldn't want to be late to meet with the campers!"

"Wait a sec--David!" 

* * *

 

"MAX!" 

The tanned boy had a minute to comprehend what sort of torture David had led him into before two pairs of arms wrapped themselves tight around the ten year old; the two relatively newer campers sporting their own pair of shit eating grins as they hugged the missing member of their infamous trio. Forgetting all about his stolen food for a minute, Max couldn't help but also grin, hugging his two only friends back.

"Haha, hey you guys--WOAH!" Max greeted before letting out a sharp yelp as Nikki picked both him and Neil up, laughing her head off as she did, overjoyed to see the two.

Nikki squeezed them tightly, "This is gonna be amazing!!" She yelled endearingly before putting the two boys down, who were laughing equally at her enthusiasm. 

David coughed, a smile on his face as he looked out at his campers, the pizza slice still in hand, "Welcome back, Camp Campbell campers! I'm so glad to see a sea of smiling faces!" The redhead greeted with a bright grin stretching across his lips as the group of campers trotted over forming a crowd around him, "This year is going to be a little bit different, as there's going to be a few changes," There were mutterings amongst the children, "Two new camp counsellors will be joining us this year!"

Neil stared in surprise, turning his eyes onto Max, raising a brow--And Max nodded in response, rolling his eyes.

"They'll be arriving a little later, so don't worry!" David chimed before motioning over to his female coworker who walked over, smiling at the familiar faces, "Gwen here will take all of you over to the new tent site to get you settled in! So get your luggage from the pile and follow her!" 

Neil took a step forward to follow the instructions set by David, but quickly got stopped by Max who grabbed the back collar of the yellow camp t-shirt he wore. The lanky boy glanced behind his shoulder, meeting with Max's blue eyes as the other boy raised a brow as if to question why he thought to even follow what David said. 

"Oh, have you already got us a tent?" Neil asked.

Max nodded, deadpanning, "Uh, _duh_."

The two boys stood side by side as the rest of the camp, including Nikki, trailed after Gwen chatting boisterously. Max adorned a smug smirk whilst Neil looked nervous, though that wasn't anything new. Once everyone was out of sight, Max turned to David, allowing Neil to scurry over to his suitcase and pick it up, "Ahem, aren't you forgetting something, Davey?"

David laughed, "I suppose you deserve it" The camp counsellor hummed, a finger pressed to his chin, "Here you go, Max!" He piped cheerfully, handing Max the pizza slice of which had a few bites in it, despite that Max took it and bit into it, glaring up at David as he nibbled on the piece of fast food, not really caring that the other had already ate part of it.

"I'll get you back for this one day..."

"Ok! I have my stuff!" Neil announced to the other two, "So uh...Where exactly is our tent?"

Max snorted, "C'mon I'll show you--Thanks for the pizza, Ranger David," The boy teased, doing the official Camp Campbell salute mockingly to his guardian before he wrapped an arm around Neil's shoulders, dragging him away towards their tent.

David blinked at the nickname, watching his young ward take the brown haired camper away, "That's a new one..."

A car horn echoed around the forest, birds flying away from the sudden sound, squawking loudly at the disruption--David's eyes wide as he looked for the offender and that was when he saw it. A sleek white car, an expensive one too. It drove down the dirt road, two passengers inside it. Both blonde, both blue eyed. But only one carried a familiar face to him as he stared out the window, grinning as he spotted the redhead.

David started to grin as the car moved to park in the free space beside his slightly larger vehicle. Yep. This was going to be a _great_ summer. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mwhahaha and that's where i'll leave it for today :3
> 
> the campers are back! hell yeahh! And with them they bring their weird ass relationships with each other! (i kinda imagine all the campers being one big family, so they're quite friendly with one another whilst sticking with their own rivalries and such) 
> 
> Of course Max and David have their fluffy ass moments with one another (i mainly wrote in the idea of pizza because pizza is good ok)
> 
> and who are our mystery arrivers hmhmhm?--you probably already know but whelppp 
> 
> THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT IN THE FIRST CHAPTER <3   
> U GUYS R AWESOME  
> AND I'LL SEE U IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!  
> as markiplier says : BYE BYE!  
> \- Nico


	3. Youth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're my Morphine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a new camp camp episode came out :D  
> Ugh, i love how david's like a little max--I shall be mentioning that in the next chapter don't you worry :) 
> 
> for now have first introductions and a jelly little max *^^*

"This is our shitty tent. The bathroom, that will be filled with shit, is over _there_ \--Oh, and our shitty ass beds are there," Max explained with a shrug of his shoulders, his nonchalant expression showing a slight hint of amusement as he opened up an arm, motioning over to the two wooden cots that resided in the back corners of the tent.

Neil laughed, walking past his black haired friend and into the tent, looking around at his home for the next few month, "Damn, Max, I'm liking your little touch," The scientist commented noticing the coffee maker that was propped up on top of a tree stump in between the two cots.

The nihilistic boy mockingly bowed, "Why thank you, oh nerdy one," 

"Haha-- _Sooo_ , which bed is yours?" Neil asked, looking between the two relatively same sized wooden cots, folding his arms in his typical fashion as he looked between the two, trying to see if one of them were wider--He had a tendency to fall out of his bed on the first few nights.

Max shrugged, "I take the right, don't I?"

Neil looked to the left bed and then followed Max's actions, shrugging himself, "Good point," He leisurely dumped his stuff on his bed before flopping down on the clean sheets, "So Cameron finally actually won a bet?"

"Yeah," Max said with a nod, "It was at horse race or something--Though I wouldn't be surprised if he rigged it so that he could win," 

The science boy raised a brow, "Wow, Max. I didn't know you held that much respect for Mr Campbell,"

"I don't," Max reassured with a dead-eyed stare.

Neil opened his mouth, about to retort with something, but quickly shut his mouth to instead shake his head and hop up onto his feet, "Did you see that car drive in?--Pretty fancy eh, and I know Gwen can't afford something like that," He commented, meeting eyes with the cyan eyed boy.

Max blinked, confused about what Neil was referring to for a moment, before he snapped his fingers in realisation, "It's those new counsellors--God dammit, c'mon," Max leant a hand up, grabbing the collar of Neil's yellow Camp Campbell shirt and hauling him out their tent, "One of them's some sort of old friend of Davey's, and I do not trust him,"

Amused, Neil snickered, "So you're jealous?"

"No!" Max objected in a hiss, glaring at the other boy, his cheeks burning red, "I just!--I don't want him to get himself hurt ok?" The black haired boy muttered, narrowing his eyes as he diverted them, shaking his head.

Neil shook his head with a knowing smile, allowing himself to be pulled towards the camp counsellor building. Quickly, Max scrambled up to peer through the window, Neil following in suit. 

At what they saw, Neil gasped whilst Max's eyes widened, "Holy shit I know that face,"

"What?"

"Stupid scrapbooking day--It doesn't matter," Max shook his head, narrowing his eyes trying to think back to that awful, godforsaken day, "Jack...Jace...Joe--Ugh I can't remember," 

Neil turned his head, looking through the fogged up window at the platinum haired man who entered the room with Gwen at his side, now dressed up in the Camp Campbell counsellor uniform, "Who's that guy?--He looks like a cultist," Neil commented, pressing his finger against the window.

Max leant over, following Neil's gaze. He seemed just as confused (if not more) than Neil, "Woah--Does David have a secret twin we don't know about or something? Because I cannot deal with two David's. One's enough." The black haired boy shuddered in disgust, "I can picture it now, two of those assholes singing _that stupid fucking laundry song whilst they_ \--"

"Max! Shut up!"

The platinum haired man crossed the wooden floor, a smile--one Max didn't trust--on his face as he stood in front of David, extending a hand in greeting. 

* * *

 

"--And you must be Daniel! It's such a pleasure to meet you!" 

With a laugh, the man nodded, his icy blue eyes sparkling with a sophisticated professionalism that nobody else in the camp seemed to replicate, "And you, Mr...?"

"Just David's fine!" David chirped in response before he glanced between his two new camp counsellors, "Talk about a good turnout, huh, Gwen?"

Raising a brow with her hands on her hips, Gwen shook her head, "Whatever you say, David," She took a step forward, "Truth is, we need all the help we can get--Some of the camper's are a little... _Erratic_ ," The tanned woman carefully worded, forcing a smile onto her face as she thought back to the previous  _events_ the camp had suffered.

"Erratic? Well isn't that just dandy! They're always the best!" The second camp counsellor, an old friend of David's-- _Jasper_ , piped, a grin pulling across his lips as he spoke--He looked just as David remembered, messy blonde hair and soft blue eyes, his fashion sense still unspeakably bad (but it was endearing).

Gwen blinked, taken aback for a moment before she quickly stepped in, shaking her hands defensively in time with her head, "No way--These camper's aren't that sort of erratic. They tend to get a little bit...Insane. They break stuff, start forest fires, you name it. They're not bad kids, they just need a watchful eye," The dyed haired woman explained in the same careful manner as before.

David nodded, beaming, "All they need is a little bit of friendly Camp Campbell guidance and they'll be super!"

"Wow! They sound amazing!--Remember when old Beatrice used to start fires?--Hah! They were always the best campfires!" Jasper reminisced, turning his eyes to David who nodded energetically, sharing the fond memory with the taller man.

Daniel rolled his eyes at Jasper's own eccentric behaviour, looking to Gwen for answers, "Are there curfews and such?--Rules they have to meet and so on,"

Gwen shrugged, "We used to have a whole rule book around here somewhere, but I'm pretty sure one of the campers threw it in the lake year--The curfew's 12 and the only rule we ever used to enforce was to not kill each other," She shrugged, "The camper's usually follow their own set of rules--It's probably better to just let them too,"

"But isn't that letting them walk all over you?" Daniel contradicted, raising a brow inquisitively.

The female counsellor gave him a surprised yet warning look, "Trust me. You haven't met Max yet,"

David hummed, "Now, Gwen. Max isn't all bad! He just needs a nice friendly face every now and again to--"

"It's better if you just leave Max to his own thing," Gwen quickly intervened, "Unless you want to be suffocated in your sleep, it's probably best--The only one who can ever really get through to him anyway is David," She then added, motioning to the natural red-head who grinned at the mention of his name.

That caught Jasper's attention, "Wow, really? You must be real special to him if he only listens to you, Davey,"

David laughed, "Like I said! All Max really needs is a familiar friendly face,"

"So, what about the other campers?" Daniel then asked, leaning against the bookshelf in the room with his arms folded, watching as Gwen took a seat on the worn out couch whilst Jasper and David stayed standing up, "This is a camp camp right?--One for loads of different kids?"

Gwen thought to herself, "Well, they're all a little crazy. The only ones I'd tell you to really keep your distance with or be... _gentle_ with are : Max for sure, Nurf and Preston. Apart from that, most of the kids are pretty friendly with new people--Though it's sometimes best to give Neil some alone time, so don't overcrowd him,"

"Neil's our resident science camper!" David chimed in cheerfully.

Jasper blinked, looking between Gwen and David, "What about the others?"

David grinned, counting the names on his fingers, "Nurf's a part of behavioural therapy camp; Preston's theatre camp; Dolph is apart of arts and craft camp; Nikki chose double this year--"

"And Max?" Daniel chipped in, turning the conversation back to the mysterious camper that seemed to be trouble.

"Well, Max isn't really part of any camp," Gwen pitched in, "His..." She paused, obviously unsure of how to put it, "He  _used_ to be apart of knitting camp thanks to his... _parents_ \--But in more recent years," She didn't hide her glance over to David, "He's allowed to do his own thing, Max tends to just join in with other camper's activities if he can be bothered to,"

David didn't hide that his grin widened, "Max is apart of his own little camp!"

"Did something happen with him?" Daniel questioned, noticing the timed glance between the two more experienced camp counsellors.

Jasper, not catching on, raised a brow, "What do you mean, Dan?" 

David's expression didn't budge, "A few things! But it's best we don't dwell on one camper---Let's go over the cafeteria protocol, ooh! And the one for morning announcements!--Gosh I love Camp Campbell!" Deciding not to ask, Daniel silenced himself, shooting a look to Jasper, who looked confused, yet curious--Something was defiantly up.

A few minutes and a song later...

"And that's everything! Wow, I never knew there could be so much fun with all that protocol!" David laughed to himself, grinning as he put aside his old acoustic guitar, one which was covered in stickers from different places he had been--though most of them were ones Max found and gave to him.

Jasper shared the same enthusiasm, "Yeah!--Wow, I can't believe Camp Campbell now has such a radical theme song! That's so styling!" David and Jasper laughed with each other like old friends, a hand wrapped around the other's shoulders.

Gwen was amusedly rolling her eyes--Used to David's antics, whilst Daniel seemed surprised. The camp wasn't as straightforward as he perceived to be...Then again, he received most of his knowledge about the camp from Jasper, who hadn't been to it in a good what? Twenty or so years?

The counsellors weren't left alone long however. With a battle cry and a chorus of yelling about people moving, the _supposed-to-be-locked_ door the cabin was equipped with was busted wide open, a sea of angry, surprised and confused children falling through onto the floor.

"Ow! Nurf! You're sat on my head!"

"That's so not cool, Nurf!"

"Well, I apologise I cannot help the formation I have taken--You can't blame it all on me though, that's pretty small minded. Blaming it on the fat kid huh? That's a new level of small mindedness, Ered,"

"Nikki, please would you get off me?"

"I'll get off when Preston gets off me!"

"Well I say!--None of you fell like proper professionals! I couldn't feel any true passion for the art of--"

"SHUT UP, PRESTON!" The chorus of campers yelled, all of them glaring at the theatre loving boy who 'hmph-ed' in reply.

Gwen stared at them, her eyes narrowed and her arms folded--Daniel seemed impressed and David and Jasper were shaking their heads, yet they were still grinning.

"Ok, ok, let's break it up," Gwen intervened, "Harrison, Nerris, can you hop off Nurf so he can get up?" With the two magic kids climbing off the already stained white t-shirt the bully of the camp wore, Nurf managed to ease himself up, giving all the other (much smaller) campers the ability to breathe again.

David laughed, "What are you kids doing?"

Neil blinked before pointing accusatively to Nikki, "It was all Nikki's idea,"

"No it wasn't! It was Dolph's! He's the one who watched that spy movie!" Nikki objected instantly, rolling out of the pile and onto the floor, "Trust me, David. You don't wanna be tricked by these trickers!"

The science camper wormed his way out of the pile, dusting himself off as he stood up, "In all honesty, David. It was all Nikki. Right gu--" He turned to the other campers, looking at them with a hopeful look before he sighed, narrowing his eyes and looking back to David. The sea of annoyed faces behind him, "Ok, so maybe 25% percent of the idea was mine--Anyway who the fuck are they?"

"Oi!" Gwen protested, swatting Neil's fluffy brown hair, "Be nice,"

Not seeming Max or Space Kid amongst the pile, David shook his head--though a worried glimmer appeared in his eyes. He opened up his arm and motioned to the two unfamiliar men, "This here is Daniel--And this is my old buddy Jasper! They'll both be counsellors this year, so it's best to listen to them, ok?"

"Wait! Are they replacing you guys?!" Harrison asked in shock, "Because I don't think I can really deal with that,"

Nerris nodded, "Who else will watch Doctor Who with me!?" All eyes turned turned to Nerris in confusion, "What? It's got a good combat system," The other campers stayed quiet, nobody really wanting to chip in and tell Nerris the show was sci-fi, not fantasy.

David smiled, putting an arm on either of the two camper's shoulders, kneeling in front of them, "No, silly. They're not replacing us. They're just some extra help this year," He then stood up, looking out across all the campers, "And that means you guys have to be nice to them, alright? They're here to help," 

The sound of a tweed rope being stretched as it lowered was heard behind them, causing for the campers to turn around. It was Space Kid. A rope tied tight around his waist as he was being lowered from the air vent, a fist out like superman as he started to spin, "I will reach the stars! And I--Uh," He stared at the rest of the campers before looking back up at the vent, "Hey, Max! I think everyone else already busted in!"

"What?!" 

The rope was dropped and Space Kid fell--Though he luckily landed on one of the old patched up bean bags in the corner, letting out a breath of relief.

David watched in amusement as his young charge wormed out of the vent, landing beside Space Kid, not too happy about the situation, "What the fuck guys?! We said it'd be a stealth mission!"

"Yeah! But Nikki said she wanted to do a raid!" Neil protested before looking sheepish, "We all sort of got carried away--Sorry, Max," He gave a smile over to his tent mate before shrugging, "But hey, at least we all looked cool,"

Jasper nodded, "Totally radical,"

 

Max turned his eyes onto the new counsellors, his eyes narrowed before he flicked them up at David--Although they retained the defensive gleam, they seemed to soften a little, "They're the new...?" David nodded, giving a smile to his charge, "Ok," He looked up, giving the same glower to each of them, "Don't get in my way and we're cool. Do and I'll break you,"

"Threats aren't too friendly, kiddo," Daniel eased, intervening. He wasn't someone who really liked being told what to do, especially from people he deemed inferior.

Max glare hardened, "Neither am I, so back off before you get hurt, creep."

David laughed as if Max's behaviour was usual for him--Which it tended to be around new people, "Now, now, Max. Daniel's here to help, so is Jasper. So try to be nice, ok?" He chimed, crouching down to the other's level and ruffling with his hair.

Swatting his guardian's hand away, Max seemed adamant, but agreed, "Fine--" Gwen sighed a breath of relief, "On two conditions,"

"What do you want?" Gwen asked, raising a brow.

Max shrugged, glancing up at the female counsellor, a devious look in his eye, "Extra pudding for the week and I get to sleep in,"

David tilted his head, still on the same level as Max, "And you'll be on your best behaviour?"

Turning his gaze back to David, Max rolled his eyes, "I'll tolerate them."

Daniel watched in a mixture of awe and shock as David stood up, grinning, "Good boy, Max," He spoke affectionately, like a proud father to a son. He then turned his gaze to the rest of the campers, "Now, what do you all say we go set up that bonfire?--Jasper, you remember where all the wood is stored right?"

"In the old bunkhouse near the lake?" Jasper inquired; when David nodded, he grinned and turned his eyes onto the campers, "Alrighty, kids! How about we say we get some smores a'roasting and marshmallows a'cooking by building the biggest bonfire ever!" The campers cheered, obviously enjoying the enthusiasm. 

Nikki shot out the room, "Dibs on the first smore!"

"Wha!?--That's so unfair! You can't call dibs!" Neil protested, chasing after her.

Harrison and Nerris nodded, "Yeah!" They both cried, chasing after the other two--It didn't take long for all the campers, par Max, to run out the room, sprinting towards the bunkhouse to start on the bonfire.

Jasper blinked at the lack of enthusiasm Max was showing, "Don't you want to help build the bonfire, Max?"

Max gave him a look--one that was slightly threatening, but less so than before.

"Max?" David tired, a hopeful smile on his face. Seeing how his ward wasn't budging however, David shook his head, putting a hand on top of the child's head, "It's ok, Jasp. I got him," He looked down to Max, "How about we go find something to get the fire started? I know you always like doing that,"

Max turned his eyes to David, the protective nature in them disappearing into one of amusement, "Fine. But we're using gasoline--Not those weird rocks,"

Remembering what occurred last time they used gasoline, David laughed nervously, but nodded, "Only if you let me pour it this time,"

"Ok, but I get to throw the match," Max stated as the two walked out the cabin. 

Gwen shook her head, smiling over at Daniel, "I guess that leaves us to go get all the food--C'mon, it's in the back of the mess hall," She motioned for Daniel to follow her, which he did, a matching smile on his face as he did so.

* * *

The bonfire roared happily when Max threw the match onto it. Fire lighting up the wood the other's had collected, bowls of marshmallows, chocolate and gram-crackers surrounding the fire pit. The campers all cheered, clapping enthusiastically as they watched the fire grow. Gwen walked around the circle of logs, handing out skewers to the campers so they could all dive in, getting food and melting it over the fire as the sun started to set--Purple, oranges and deep blues lighting up the sky as the stars started to appear.

Daniel wasn't one for summer jobs--But he had to admit, it felt nice. This was a good first day. Jasper seemed to be in agreement, chatting happily with Gwen about something or other.

"Hey, Neil. Can I sit here?"

"Sure, whatever, Harrison,"

"Nerris. Marshmallow me."

The campers seemed happy at least. Neil, Harrison, Nikki and Nerris all shared a log, the four of them now arguing over who could make the 'mightiest smore with the best healing properties' (the words of Nerris). Preston, Dolph and Space Kid were all huddled up, a wool blanket draped over the three of them as they chatted about something or other--By the sounds of it, it sounded like it was about a new movie about space. 

Whilst Daniel was stuck between Gwen and Jasper, adding his own comment about the camp every now and again, David was sat beside Max, who seemed genuinely content with his surroundings; Ered and Nurf sitting on the other end of the log, the two talking about some teen show they were both watching--Some sort of murder mystery.

"Marshmallow?" David offered, holding out a roasted marshmallow on Max's skewer, knowing the boy wouldn't do it himself. 

Max took it off him, a ghost of a smile tugging at his lips, "Thanks,"

Nurf opened up his beefy arms, staring at Ered with wide eyes, "Yeah, but Jughead can't have been the killer! He's the main character! He's a conversation about rejecting society!"

"Yeah, but he's _extreme_ , dude! It'd be such a sick plot twist!"

Neil, from where he sat between Harrison and Nikki, yelped as he was suddenly elbowed by the blue haired girl, who scrambled to get more food before Nerris could, "Hey! Nikki! Watch it!"

"Sorry, Neil! But food calls!"

Harrison laughed, shaking his head, "Y'know, out of everyone, Nikki's changed the least,"

Neil raised a brow at the statement, opening his mouth to ask what Harrison meant, but he was quickly cut off by Nerris, "Nikki! We have to take turns to get the marshmallows! It's basic role play edict!" 

"You sure about that?" Neil then asked with a laugh, looking over at Nerris who started to wave her hands frantically over a gram cracker, trying to 'bless it' with some sort of spell.

Harrison nodded, certain, "Yeah," He met with Neil's eyes, "I'm sure,"

The sky turned dark as stars started to light up in it's canvas--Dolph already asleep, using Preston's shoulder as a pillow, and as the sky got darker and darker, more campers begun to yawn, obviously tired.

"We should probably get all the campers to bed, huh?" Gwen suddenly said to the two men on either side of her, "We don't want them sleeping out here," The some, still relatively awake campers awed in protest, but understood for the most part. Gwen looked over at Preston, "Can you carry--?" She asked, motioning down to Dolph, knowing that the two shared a tent.

Preston nodded, "Yeah," 

Space Kid yawned, following Preston and Dolph back towards the main circle of tents where he also slept, "C'mon Nurf!" He called loudly through his yawn.

The larger sized kid blinked before quickly trailing after his roommate, waving goodbye to Ered, who nodded in reply.

"You tired, Ered?" Nikki chimed with a grin.

Ered shrugged, "Nope,"

"A-Aha! Neither am I!" Nikki squeaked out--Neil rolling his eyes at the sight.

"You so are," Neil shook his head before turning his eyes away from the girl, "Max, you wanna--? Great. He's asleep too." 

Max wasn't too far gone, but he was still asleep. An hour into the bonfire he had fallen asleep, his head tucked up into the hood of his hoodie--the child using David's leg as a pillow.

David smiled, "He's probably tired from the long drive up here," He commented before tilting his head, "Do you want me to--?"

Neil shook his head, "Nah I got him," The boy skipped over, shaking Max lightly, knowing that Max was a light sleeper. The boy flickered his eyes open, momentarily confused, "C'mon sleeping beauty," Neil called, tugging Max up to his feet and towards the lake where their tent was set up half way down the trail. 

Daniel watched the encounter, his eyes turning over to Jasper, who was also asleep. 

"Go on, to bed with you four," David ushered to the other four kids who remained around the bonfire. Ered seemed adamant, but Nikki led her away--Nerris using Harrison as a support as the sleepy girl headed back to the tent she shared with her best frenemy.

Gwen proceeded to put out the fire, a smile on her face, "Well, that worked out nicely--That was probably the best bonfire we've ever had,"

David nodded in agreement, "Thanks you guys,"

Daniel smiled, "It's all in a days work,"

"We'll be up and early tomorrow--So you should probably take Jasper and go get some sleep ok?" Gwen advised with a friendly shine in her magenta eyes, "Me and David'll take down the bonfire," She reassured.

The platinum blonde nodded, "Sleep well you two," He told them before standing up, helping his old college roommate up and over to the Counsellors Cabin, which wasn't too far from the bonfire pit, but was still quite a way to go.

As the night set over the camp, the campers and counsellors alike settling into their beds, one thing was for certain : This summer was going to be a memorable one.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! I finished this chapter! :D  
> sorry about the time it took, i kept rewriting it aha--Getting all the characters to stay relatively in character (especially with Daniel) was pretty difficult.
> 
> I hope you liked this one!--I do apologise if any characters are a bit OOC.  
> The next chapter will be alot longer, as not all the characters will be together, so you'll get to see more one on one interactions :) 
> 
> Until then!  
> Campe Diem!  
> x Nico


	4. Wishlight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> max and david in the new episode holy shit

The sun rose up over the grapefruit coloured sky, birds begun to sing sweet melodies and the herbivore fauna of the forest began to graze in the forest as the slumbering campers of Camp Campbell begun to awaken; their counsellors already awake and out and about.

"6am. _Really_?" Daniel openly complained with a tired look in his blue eyes as he stared down at the expensive watch that was tightly strapped around his wrist. His blonde hair was a mess, he had clear bags under his eyes, and he was pretty sure that new mark on his neck was a bug-bite. 

Jasper on the other hand was bouncing with joy, "What can I say? We wake up with the forest!" The other man chirped.

Raising a brow accusatorially, Daniel turned his eyes up to Jasper, "How can you be this hyper?--Did you drink coffee or anything?" The man interrogated as he continued to stroll with his old roommate towards the main camper's tent circle to get them all up for morning roll call before they all went to go get breakfast in the Mess Hall.

Originally, the two were going to wake up the campers who were sleeping in the off-side camping grounds, but David was quick to intervene, stating that the more troublesome (and less _compliant_ ) campers slept in the second tent circle--Leaving Daniel and Jasper to wake up the majority of the campers, who according to David were much more happy to wake up at 6am, though Daniel doubted that. No child was happy to wake up before 9, especially during the summer.

"Nope!" Jasper piped in reply, "Caffeine is so not bangin'--I prefer tea,"

Daniel rolled his eyes, "That's a lie. You drank so much coffee during college,"

Jasper grinned, "That was only because I know you feel self conscious when you're the only one doing something!"

That wasn't true, but Daniel wasn't about to tell him that. Sure he was grumpy due to the time (Even the Enlightenment Camp he used to go when he was a kid to didn't wake him up  _this_ early), but the blonde knew Jasper was sensitive, especially when it came to correcting knowledge about one of his friends.

The two neared the campground as the sun began to peak out over the tips of the pine trees, beams of pleasant golden light shining down on the cream coloured tents, most likely awakening it's inhabitants--Or at least thats what Daniel was hoping it would do, it was less work that way.

"Do you have the trumpet?" Daniel murmured, running a hand through his hair to try get the stray strands of it to stay down whilst he waved the other almost dismissively, though it kept his palm out flat.

Jasper blinked before reaching into his back pocket, pulling out a tiny trumpet, "Yep!" He hummed, handing the instrument over to David who sucked in a deep breath, "Remember, Danny-boy, big breath!" He cheered, patting his friend on the back as his grin stretched across his lips.

Daniel nodded, raising the trumpet to his lips and blowing out all the air--The trumpet shook as a loud unappealing noise bursted out of the bell, dust twirling around the noise as if it was solid. Groans echoed throughout the campground as campers emerged from the tents, rubbing their eyes and flipping off the two counsellors.

* * *

"Another beautiful day at Camp Campbell, ey, Gwen?"

A resounding 'no' mixed with a tired and frustrated groan spilled out from the back of the said tanned woman's throat, her magenta eyes were narrowed in annoyance--Though this time her grumpiness came from the fact she was made to wake up early and not from the usual reason of her frustrations; a very specific reason called _David_. 

"It's too fucking early for this..." She complained with a growl.

David skipped ahead with a twirl, beaming, already fully awake and ready to have some Camp Campbell fun! The man hopped out of a small pitfall in the ground, spun around and grinned at Gwen, "C'mon, Gwen! Turn that frown upside down!--How about this, you can go wake up Space Kid and Nurf. It's only the first day so I doubt Nurf will be having nightmares---"

"And you'll deal with Max?" Gwen questioned, raising a brow questionably as she folded her arms, cocking her body back to observe David's expression as it melted from his usual joy to one of slight uncertainty and worry. 

Both counsellors had experience with Max's... _habits_. He wasn't the best sleeper--And David was only hoping that since he was pretty tired out due to the hectic events of the day before, which mostly consisted of the drive up to the camp, Max would have actually not only slept, but also woke up without hassle and at a reasonable time. Due to certain... _afflictions,_ Max despised sleeping. At his and David's home, they could generally control his insomnia, and the sleep paralysis wasn't much of an occurrence anymore. But at camp? Last year was a literal  _nightmare_ for the boy. Not a single night did he have a good nights sleep, which was generally the reason why he drank so much coffee (and nearly had a panic attack after Nikki broke the machine). 

David, with a determined look in his eye, nodded, "Don't worry, Gwen. I'll get him up--"

"If he needs to sleep in, it's ok," Gwen reassured, a smile on her face, "That kid needs as much sleep as he can get," David smiled back at her thankfully, giving her a quick wave as she headed off to Space Kid and Nurf's tent.

Once Gwen was out of his view, David turned his eyes back towards his destination and started to walk, smiling at the peaceful scenery around him. His charge really had picked a good spot to sleep this year, then again, his spots were always in the same general area : close to the lake for a quick escape--but not to close as the Wood-scouts had a tendency to kidnap; a good way away from everyone else so that nobody would bother him; and a reasonable distance away from the counsellor's cabin, though David never really understood why Max followed _that_ objective. From living with Max for a good few years now, Max was anything but a solitary kid, sure he liked having alone time, but for the most part he liked sticking with David, though he'd never admit it. Maybe it was something to do with Gwen?

David pondered to himself. What did Max think of the new counsellors? Jasper defiantly hadn't changed much since the two were kids, he was still the over zealous loveable oaf David remembered from his childhood, and Daniel seemed nice. Max didn't seem too out of character yesterday, he seemed slightly uncomfortable, but he usually did around new people so David wasn't too worried.

It didn't take long for David to reach Max and Neil's tent--The man spotting the scribbled names on a whiteboard that hung from a nearby tree. From here, he could hear the two chatting loudly, surprising the redhead; he guessed that Neil would already be up but Max? Approaching the tent, David walked through the opening in the temporary home and grinned at the two boys inside.

"Oh, hey, David," Neil greeted with a wave, grinning lopsidedly at the tall lanky man, putting down the book he was reading--Max on the other hand rolled his eyes, not even looking up from his DS. 

In his usual half-asleep murmur Max spoke, "Mornin', jackass,"

David beamed at the two, "Did you two both sleep well?"

Neil shrugged, "It was decent--Well, apart from those bears, it went pretty well,"

" _Bears_?!" David almost squealed, half in surprise, half shocked--He never knew bears to come around this close to camp; they tended to stay away from humans.

Max nodded with a nonchalance to him, still enraptured in what sounded like a Gym battle in Pokemon, "Yeah, they were going at it all night--" He then looked up at David, narrowing his eyes as he observed David's expression, "It's 'nature', Davey. Y'know, sex and that--They weren't actually near the camp, we could just hear them," David sighed in relief, count on Max to unintentionally calm you down.

"Well!" David exclaimed loudly to try divert the conversation to another topic, "How about we go join the other campers for roll call, ey? It'll be fun! First roll call of the summer!" The redhead grinned.

Neil and Max shared a look of doubt, but got up anyway; Max stashed his DS into the pocket of his hoodie whilst Neil put aside his book on the bed. The two stood up, ready to go, with Max standing at a significantly shorter height to Neil--It was probably all the coffee he drank in comparison to Neil's kosher diet.

Whilst Neil and Max started chatting again (mostly betting if wether or not Space Kid was already dead), David emerged out from the tent, grinning wider at the sight of Gwen who emerged from over the hill with Nurf and Space Kid in tow--The two looking surprisingly awake as well. Maybe all the festivities from the previous night tired everyone out?

"Space Kid! Just the wannabe jock we wanted to see!" Neil exclaimed loudly with a mischievous smile as he noticed the aspiring astronaught. With Max sniggering behind him, Neil approached the fish-bowl wearing boy, walking at a steady yet speedy pace past David, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad was your night? Got any bruises? Stab marks?" 

Nurf yawned, sloppily moving his arm to punch Neil, only to miss, "Yady yady yah...Shut up, dweeb..." The chestnut haired boy looked tired, his olivine green eyes not fully open and his form slumped, though seeing as it was Tuesday (One of Neil's scheduled days for bullying) Nurf wasn't about to let his tiredness stop him from doing his job. 

Neil ducked past the arm, wrapping his own around Space Kid's shoulder, "So about your pain tolerance--"

David grinned at Gwen, "That all worked out pretty dandy, huh?"

"Υeah," Gwen agreed, a distrusting look in her eye, "I just hope Jasper and Daniel had similar luck,"

* * *

Chaos. It was pure utter chaos out in the main tent circle--Nikki was hanging from a tree; Nerris and Harrison were trying to murder each other, yelling spells at the top of their lungs; Ered was on her phone; Preston was having a fit over something Dolph did (of which the short boy was snickering at,). The two camp counsellors were defiantly in over their heads. Jasper tried to reason with Nikki, urging her to get down before she hurt herself, whilst Daniel was trying to split Harrison and Nerris' fight up.

"Lightning bolt!"

"What lightning bolt!?"

Daniel had both his hands stretched out, holding the children back as they lunged for the other, teeth bared and fists clenched as if they were animals. He stared pleadingly at his co-counsellor, something that was already rare as is--Daniel was never one to ask for help, "Jasper--I could use a little bit of help, old friend,"

The taller blonde was genuinely distressed at his own situation, staring up in fear at the cyan haired girl who swung like a monkey from the thick branch, grinning lopsidedly down at the adult, "As much as I wish I could assist you right now, my hands are full!" Jasper loudly responded back, reaching his arms up to try grab Nikki, "Oh please come down, Nikki! It's not safe up there!"

"Never! The trees are my friends now!"

From where she stood, leaning around the back of the said tree, Ered rolled her eyes, "Trees are so uncool..."

Nikki stopped instantly. Her cheerful, giddy expression dropped as if a part of her died inside. Jasper became confused, his brow raised as he watched as the girl slowly began to descend with a broken, "Oh..." Leaving her lips.

The girl landed with a little stumble in front of Jasper--The rest of the situation seemed to fade away as Jasper momentarily met eyes with the eccentric girl. A part of him, well, a part of him understood. But that didn't mean what was happening was right.

"Hey, Nikki,"

"--I could really use some help, Jasper!!"

Magenta eyes looked up, "Yeah, hippie-man?"

Jasper smiled, "How about we climb a different tree? One that's taller and bigger?"

"Wait... _Really_?!" Nikki exclaimed loudly, her eyes lighting up with that familiar energy to them. Her fists raised up to her chest as she grinned from ear to ear, "You really think I can do it?!"

Jasper bent down to her height and grinned, "Yep!" He encouraged, ruffling the girl's hair, "How about I help you after breakfast, does that sound good?" Jasper tilted his head, smiling at her.

Nikki lit up, "Yeah! Let's do it!" The child agreed with a matching enthusiasm.

"--For gods sake, Jasper, help me!"

"Oh!--I have to go, Nikki--Coming, Daniel!"

A minute later and the two fighting children were separated, allowing Daniel to turn his attention onto Preston to try and calm the over stimulated boy down from screaming at Dolph until his voice became hoarse---It was something about his stage posture, though they weren't on stage so Daniel wasn't too sure what Preston was referring to. Nerris and Nikki started to roll around on the grass laughing about something or other and Harrison was flipping through a book on how to be a magician.

"Holy shit," 

Everyone froze. Their eyes looked up slowly to to figure of Gwen and David, who arrived at the site with their group of campers trailing behind them. Neil and Space Kid looked confused, Neil didn't care and Max had his off-brand phone out as he snickered at the sight.

Gwen had a smile on her face, her expression impressed as she stood with folded arms beside David, "Everyone's up--Good job," She then looked over at Preston and Dolph, "You two, separate now or you won't get dessert tonight," Instantly the two children separated, though you couldn't judge them, the pudding at Camp Campbell was amazingly good.

Max and Neil trotted over to Nikki, both happy to see the third member of their trio, "Just what are you doing?" Neil asked, raising a brow as he extended a hand, helping the over-zealous blue haired girl up off the grass.

"Rolling stones with Nerris!"

Max narrowed his eyes, "Is that...Is that a fucking reference?" 

Nikki blinked, "I...I think? It wasn't intentional I mean--"

"I mean, it didn't sound intentional but it was still a poorly timed reference."

"Really? I thought it was pretty--"

Neil shot out his hands, clamping each of them over the other's face, "Alright, how about we stop talking, alright?" He sighed, before releasing his grip on the two, "You two and your stupid fucking inside jokes..."

Nikki grinned, "It's part of our friend thing,"

The brunette raised a brow, "Friend thing?" He asked, slightly confused, slightly intrigued--It was a mixed bag of emotions for the taller (and older) boy.

"Yeah, like, you know how you and Max have the coffee thing?--It's like that, but more cool," Nikki explained, nodding vigorously whilst Max just stood there, not donning any real emotion on his face as he just shrugged. The explanation made Neil even more confused, but he didn't particularly want to try questioning Nikki's logic--That usually lead to more questions after all.

"Alrighty, campers! How about we go get some breakfast? I know the quartermaster has spent alot of time and effort to make this first breakfast amazing!" David's voice echoed throughout the air, making it almost impossible to ignore. For the majority, the campers groaned, knowing there was no truth behind David's words, but they followed him anyway, well, all except the infamous trio.

Daniel raised a brow, confused as why the three weren't following David--Heck, even Jasper skipped after the redhead, chanting with Dolph and Preston about how good the food was going to be. 

Meeting with Neil's eyes, Daniel cocked his head, "Shouldn't you three be following David?"

Neil laughed, "Haha. You're new around here, so you don't know how this--" He motioned to him and his friends, "--Works," He folded his arms, standing his ground.

"Yeah, we don't listen to David!" Nikki chirped before blinking, "Oh wait, we sometimes do...But that's only when we get something!" She quickly added.

Daniel wasn't convinced, "Well, you three have to go get breakfast,"

Max snorted, taking a step forward, "And who the fuck are you again?" Neil and Nikki instinctively took a step back, although they were smiling knowingly. 

"The new counsellor--"

"Exactly," Max shrugged, "You're the  _new_ counsellor. So stay in your lane, cult boy." 

Daniel laughed, "Excuse me?"

Max didn't back down, "You heard me. Stay in your _fucking_ lane,"

"You're a child, you don't get to tell me what to do, Max," The blonde stated firmly, also not backing out of the argument. 

"Oh, but I do," Max folded his arms, "I'll break you, camp-man. Only David gets to boss me about. And last I checked, you're not him," He pointed at Daniel accusatively, "So. Back off, or I'll back you off a fucking cliff."

With that, the conversation was over. Max shoved past Daniel as he walked back towards the lake, Neil and Nikki trailing after him. 

The blonde stared wide eyed, shocked and surprised. What. Just. Happened? 

Whatever that was, Daniel was not going to stand for it--No. He was going to get that  _child_ back in his lane. And all he needed, was a little fear...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> short chapterr eyyyy :D
> 
> yeah, so the plot has started to be introduced---A plot that will bring our characters together *^^* 
> 
> hahah  
> this took too long (sorry that it's short)
> 
> more backstory on max and david. more fluff. blah blah blah :)  
> anyway, enjoy it!  
> x Nico


	5. Albatraoss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> jasper and david have a thing. theres cream. its pretty saucy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm back! Sorry about the lack of updates---This lil jackass has been away. But now I'm finally BACK! So yeah.
> 
> Updates!
> 
> AND OML THE SEASON FINALE! *dies inside* max and david i swear to god this whole adoption thing is like practically canon now--But anyway! Yeah!
> 
> FILLER CHAPTER! WHOOOP!

With breakfast over and the first activities of the day setting into place, a peaceful echo of tranquility spread across the camp. The four counsellors split up, each of them holding a responsibility over three or so campers, and so far, everything was going well. Nurf hadn't stabbed anyone, Space Kid was hadn't yet vomited in the fishbowl he called a helmet and surprisingly Ered was injury free (though to be honest, after last summer, Gwen was keeping a pretty tight eye on the trio of disaster).

"Lightning bolt!"

"STOP!" 

"C'mon, Harrison! Play along!"

Jasper beamed. Things were going swimmingly on his end! Instead of leaving each of his campers to their own devices, he decided to combine them!--And so far neither of them had murdered the other in a blind rage, so according to the many things he had heard from Gwen about the campers this year : Things were going great!

Nerris huffed, puffing her cheeks out as she put her foot down, "This is so not how the game works,"

From where he sat, on the ground, Harrison gave a half-assed glare, dusting himself off, "I'm pretty sure you don't throw rocks at people either!"

"They're mana infused marbles!"

"They're pebbles with paint on them!"

Yep. So far things were going pretty well, Jasper thought, nodding to himself. Though from what he could see, things on Daniel's end weren't as great.

The platinum blonde, seeing how Jasper's efforts had worked, tried to combine the two campers he was assigned : Preston and Dolph. Though, admittedly, things weren't going...Well. They weren't dead, which was a plus--But they weren't injury free either.

"I want more creativity!" 

"What more do you want?!"

"Creativity!"

"Ok, guys!" Daniel sharply called, cutting in between the two campers--Preston's hands dangerously close to Dolph's neck. Jasper had his eye stuck on the sight, not wanting to look away in case something did actually happen. He knew an angry child when he saw one--He knew David when he was a camper at the camp all those years ago, "How about we take a breather ok?"

Jasper sighed in relief as he saw Preston's twitching hands recoil slowly--At least the Shakespeare obsessed boy wasn't about strangle his fellow camper to death.

"Jasper!"

The call turned the said blonde's eyes back over to his campers---His eager eyes finding a cheerful childhood innocence in a matching pair of sapphire eyes, "Yes, Nerris? What can I help you with?"

Seeming happy her ask for help didn't go ignored, Nerris held out her hand, showcasing a few assorted marbles (though, like Harrison had previously pointed out, they were more like pebbles that had been badly painted on), "Harrison said these are just pebbles! They're not right?"

Grinning, Jasper nodded, "Of course they're not! They're one groovy set of enchanted marbles--!"

"Mana infused,"

The man blinked, laughing nervously, " _Mana infused_ marbles,"

Taking Jasper's words as fact, Nerris nodded firmly, spinning around, "What did I tell you, Harrison!" 

"He's not a man of magic!"

"Neither of you but you're still talking!"

Once again, Jasper sighed in relief. This really wasn't an easy job. He had no idea how David did it--With his sanity intact no less. These kids...They really were a handful. Hey. Where was David? 

Jasper turned on the log he sat on, turning away from his view of the small cleared out area of land near the lake where his as well as Daniel's campers were set up. In a mix of curiosity, worry and wonder, the man looked around, before blinking upon spotting the mop of fluffy red hair. That unconscious goofy smile worming his way onto his face.

"Hey...Uh, Daniel?" Jasper called, looking back upon his coworker.

"Yes?" Daniel chimed, though his voice remained strained and uninterested.

The duller haired blonde smiled, using his thumb to point over his shoulder at David, who remained almost hidden among the flora, "I'm going to go check up on the timings for later today with David--Are you fine keeping watch over Harrison and Nerris?" 

With a quick glance over to the said two campers to make sure they were calm (which they were--Harrison had now begun showing Nerris magic tricks with the marbles), Daniel sighed, nodding, "Yes, yes, of course I can. Now hurry up, the more you linger the more they'll notice,"

"You're swell! Be back in a tick!" 

Grinning, Jasper turned his back and begun his ascend up the small hill, a jolly hop in his step as he continued to walk upwards--His eyes turning to glance to the left of him where Gwen was situated; the woman was sat on a tree stump, flicking through what seemed to be a trashy magazine--Stars in her eyes and a grin on her face. Though, in her defence, the campers were fine. Nurf was napping in a tree whilst Space Kid and Ered were working out how to put some sort of rocket onto her skateboard.

...

Jasper was going to ignore the last part of his observation if that's alright.

Turning his eyes away before curiosity got the best of him, Jasper continued up the hill towards the main bit of the camp, grinning as he reached David's little sector. Him being intrigued about what activity the redhead was running, was an _understatement_.

"Good job guys! You're doing great!"

Neil and Nikki were ferociously digging in the dirt, tossing worms into the wooden beakers beside them--Obviously they were doing some sort of competition led by David, and by looking in the beakers, it was quite clear who was winning.

"C'mon, Neil! Stop being such a pussy!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Max! I don't see you rubbing your hands against areas of earth that have a high germ count to them without hand sanitiser handy!"

From where the said boy stood, leaning against a tree, Max rolled his eyes, "That's because I refused to do it," Max shook his head, amused by Neil's frustration--But then he stopped. His somewhat cheerful (though it was very masked) expression melting away into one of monotonous disinterest immediately as if a hundred walls of defence had just been put up inside of him at the sight of Jasper, "Oi, camp man! You have a visitor!"

Blinking in confusion, David turned his eyes up to Max, who simply pointed at Jasper with a huff of annoyance. Slowly, David turned, and slowly his face lit up, "Well howdy there fellow Camp Campbell counsellor! What can I help you with?"

"Hello to you to," Jasper responded in a laugh, though the glare he was getting from Max was definitely putting him off--Obviously the child didn't like the interruption, or maybe it was the fact an outsider was pulling strings in _his_  circle, "Me and Daniel were just wondering if the camp are going to come together for some group activity before lunch?--We're fine continuing to run more sectioned off stuff, but we're just thought it'd be good to check with you,"

David grinned, "Well, I don't have any fun little games planned! But we can definitely come together for some group activity!--Perhaps duck duck goose?" 

"No," Max groaned from where he stood, the ten year old trudging over, "We're not playing that stupid game," The tanned boy snapped, folding his arms as he stood beside his guardian, staring up at Jasper, who became slightly put off by the child's disregard for manners.

"Well, Max! What would you like to play?" David asked, turning and bending down to be at eye level with him. The red-haired man smiled at the child, who in reply rolled his eyes, "I know you liked it when we all played splat last time!"

Max snorted, "That was because Gwen let us all put whipped cream on our hands and chuck it at the other person---And I stood next to you."

David grinned, "I remember you laughing your head off,"

The boy's cheeks went red, "No I didn't! Take that back! I'll fucking bite your ear off!"

"Sure, Max,"

"I'm serious, David!"

Jasper started laughing himself, "So I'm guessing splat's on the menu?"

David nodded, laughing now too whilst Max remained stubborn, his cheeks red and his eyes scowling at the floor like it had done something to personally offend him.

"SPLAT!?" Nikki shrieked; all eyes turning to look at the blue haired girl, "Hell yes! Did you hear that, Neil!?"

"No! Not again!" Neil protested sharply, "Nikki shoved whipped cream down my back last time!"

Nikki waved her hand, "Shush, you liked it,"

Neil shivered in disgust, "It was all wet and disgusting and--"

"He liked it," Nikki smirked, leaning over to elbow Neil, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, "As much as he liked it when Harrison--"

"Enough, Nikki! Jesus christ!" Neil objected, shooting his hands to press them tight over Nikki's mouth, "Have you ever heard of keeping shit to yourself?!" The boy's cheeks were red and his eyes were wide. Nikki looked like she was about to burst into laughter, her magenta eyes dilated and giddy. 

Turning away from the scene, David smiled at Jasper, "As you can see, it's alot of fun,"

 Jasper chuckled, "Haha, it seems so,"

"God, get a fucking room would you?" Max mockingly gagged before turning his attention back to his two friends, whom were currently wrestling in the mud, their beakers of worms knocked over, though the creatures remained in the scientific equipment for their own safety. The child deadpanned, "For fucks sake... I leave you two idiots alone for what, two minutes!?" He huffed as he trotted back over to the two of them, only to yelp as Nikki snatched him by the hood and tugged him down into the pile.

The two adults didn't even bat an eye--Though in David's defence, he was pretty used to the trio roughhousing, or to be more specific : he was very much so used to  _Nikki_ roughhousing, Max and Neil were usually just brought into it by default.

Jasper raised a hand, using his thumb to point back at where Daniel was, back down near the lake, "So, I uh, better get back to Daniel. Thanks for the info," 

David nodded, "Yeah, no problem haha--Uh, give the whole thing like, half an hour and meet me and Gwen back up here?"

"Yeah, that sounds rad--Talk to you then!" 

Once again, the redhead nodded, watching as his old camp friend headed back down the hill to the other new counsellor (of whom was currently under a pile of children), an unconscious smile pulling at the corners of his lips.

"Ugh--Nikki got dirt on my hoodie..." Max grumbled as he emerged from the pit Nikki had somehow made in the mud from rolling herself and Neil around in it, the boy dusting off his clothes, not taking his eyes up, "So is that asshole gone?"

"Huh? Oh, what?--Max?" David coughed, clearing his throat, "Sorry, I dazed off a bit there,"

Max paused in his actions, turning his eyes up onto his guardian, "What's up with you?" The child asked, narrowing his eyes as his brows became furrowed.

Waving him off with his hand, David laughed--The sound coming out strained and forced, "Nothing, nothing! Just a bit caught up in my thoughts. Are you ok?"

Not even giving David's excuse a minute of thought, Max leant back, still staring at his guardian, "David. I've lived with you, what now...Two years?--I think I know when you're lying," The child pointed out, "And you're not disguising it well," He then added, remaining stubborn in his posture.

"Don't fret about it, kiddo," David reassured, "It's just some silly idea I just had," The man looked around, before meeting with Max's eyes again, "I'm going to go chat to Gwen about the game--I'll be right back, ok?"

Max still held doubt in his eyes, "Fine. Keep lying to yourself, old man,"

Quickly ruffling his ward's hair, David headed off to find his co-counsellor, an extra hop in his step.

Max just rolled his eyes with a sigh, turning in his heel to walk back to his two friends, who were still wrestling about in the mud.

"NIKKI JESUS CHRIST!--STOP BITING MY NOSE!"

"NEVER!"

* * *

 

Gwen wasn't a fan of splat. Unsurprisingly though, neither was Daniel.

The entire rest of the camp was squealing with laughter--The actual rules of splat being ditched to have the ability to throw whipped cream around. Daniel had been pinned down to the dirt by Nurf and Space Kid at one point to be pelted with the cream, which is why he had stopped being a fan of the game. Whilst Gwen just threatened anyone who approached her with the whipped cream in hand.

Max, like David had previously alluded to, was cracking up with laughter as both he and Nikki proceeded to take down the said red haired man. The ten year old acting like a completely different kid as he continued to smear the food all over his guardian's clothes whilst Nikki (who managed to get up onto David's shoulders) messed with his hair.

"C'mere, Harrison!"

"Stay away from me, Neil!"

"Aw, c'mon! You're not scared are you?"

"Run, Harrison! Run!" Nerris cried between laughter before squeaking, "DOLPH!"

Dolph laughed, "Take that!"

"That was so not cool," Ered stated as she walked over, squirting an entire pyramid of the cream out onto her open palm, "This is how you do it, little man," She then said to Dolph, demonstrating how to pelt someone by launching the cream at Nerris, who barely dodged the attack.

"I cast cream whip!" She then announced, taking the bottle of whipped cream and spraying it directly at the two, who got absolutely drenched by the attack.

Dolph laughed, grabbing his own bottle as he begun to chase the small dark skinned girl around, spraying her with the whipped cream, whilst Ered gagged, trying to wipe the cream off her sunglasses.

"Jasper! No,"

"C'mon, Davey!"

David laughed, "Jasper, c'mon, haha---"

Nikki squealed, "Get him, blondie!" The blue haired girl yelled loudly, continuing to disarm David by spraying his hair down with her own batch of whipped cream.

Even Max was playing along, "I'll hold him down!"

Jasper begun to laugh himself as he smushed the whipped cream into David's cheeks, the counsellor yelping at the sensation, "JASPER!"

"Take that, David!" Max yelled, grinning as he continued to laugh. 

David playfully pouted, "That was unfair! You can't team up on me!"

"Class warfare, asshole! Anything's fair in war!" David smiled, well, at least Max was happy.

"Can we at least get Jasper?" David asked to the two children who were currently attacking him with the food item.

Jasper took a step back, "No, you two--Stop it, that's so not cool!"

"C'MERE, RAPUNZEL!" Nikki screeched as she leapt off David's shoulders like a spider monkey, knocking Jasper over completely; the blue haired girl aiming her bottle of the whipped cream directly at the counsellor who burst into laughter, squirming around for freedom.

David looked down to Max, grinning, "May I?" He asked, holding out his hand for the bottle of whipped cream.

"You may," Max replied, grinning up at his guardian as he handed the bottle over, "On three. One! Two!--"

"GUYS!"

"THREE!" With Max's battle cry, both Nikki and David covered Jasper in the whipped cream--The counsellor laughing. David laughed at the sight--Nikki and Max high fiving at their conquest, "Let's go get Gwen next!"

Without even saying goodbye Nikki and Max shot off towards the said adult, who pounced like a cat upon the sight of them, shooting cream out the bottle, "Stay away you little shits!--These are new shorts!"

David extended a hand, laughing still, "Need a hand, old pal?"

"Old pal? Haha, you just murdered me with whipped cream," Jasper quipped back, though, he took David's hand, allowing the redhead to pull him up, "Thank you for that by the way,"

"It's in the job description to make the kids happy," David pointed out in response, grinning as he shrugged, "Sacrifices had to be made, but still," 

Jasper shook his head, licking the cream off his lips as he wiped it out of his eyes, "Gosh Nikki has precision with that thing--I think she actually managed to get it in my ear," Jasper then added as he cocked his head to the side, trying to use gravity to urge the cream out.

"Oh yeah--Nikki's aim is brutal," David added on jokily, "Probably should have warned you about that,"

"I can't believe you just teamed up on me,"

"All's fair in love and war," The redhead chuckled, repeating Max's earlier statement--Well, with his own little twist.

As Nikki managed to get a hit on Gwen, Daniel managed to get revenge on his attackers--And so, another morning in Camp Campbell drew to a close.

"Hey guys...How are we going to clean all of this up?" Daniel asked as the campers rocketed back into the mess hall for lunch--Wiping some cream off his face with a towel.

Gwen blinked before slowly her eyes narrowed, "...Fuck."

"Language, Gwen!"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is it bad that how i write david and max is by hearing miles or michael say what I write in their voices? 
> 
> nah  
> its not weird
> 
>  
> 
> i promise
> 
> \- nico


	6. The Missing Bear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max loses something and goes to the only person he can trust. 
> 
> Meanwhile, Jasper leads the rest of the camp on a hunt for Platypus.
> 
> WARNING - THIS IS A REALLY SHORT CHAPTER (calm before the storm and all that shit) sorry about it's length, i know that that will annoy some people, so i decided to warn you guys about it. I just wanted to separate the calm stuff from the stuff in the next chapter (it didn't feel right to put them in the same chapter i suppose)
> 
> ok, warning over. enjoy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ANY DEAR EVAN HANSEN FANS?  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot0I306IjRk
> 
> i hope i've just made your day haha lmao (i screamed when i saw that in my recommended feed) **a happy screech of a bird i assure you

Days, no, _weeks_  passed at the small yet quaint camp. Well, despite the few breaks in the usual activities schedule that David managed to finally get working, breaks that were totally not due to Max hiding the said schedule in Quartermaster's lunch or anything, but now after a solid five weeks into the summer, everyone started to settle.

Well. That _was_ until the night of August 2nd.

It was raining like it usually did at 1am--Though it wasn't the usual light shower the camp grounds got, it was more heavy; the rain echoed across the camp, there was no sound of thunder (luckily) but the rain defiantly posed a threat for the morning canoe around the lake.

David hadn't expected to be woken up--Well, at all actually. There were times when he'd hear Gwen's late night Dr Who marathon and he'd listen to it as he drifted back off, but he was never fully woken up by someone before, _scratch that_ ; he'd never been woken up by a camper, at _camp_. Though, the camper he was woken up by wasn't an unusual night visitor.

" _Max_?" David groggily asked, his eyes blearily looking up at his ward, of whom was currently sat on his chest, cheeks wet and a distressed look in his eyes--And the redhead could easily assure anyone this : Max had never looked  _this_ distressed before, not even after a nightmare.

A distressed whimper came from the back of the ten year old's throat, "D-David, I n-need help," Max's hands closed into fists, grasping tight onto the thin duvet the counsellor beds were equipped with, "I..I can't find--"

Instantly David was up, concern written all over his face as he repositioned his charge carefully, nothing but worry sparkling in his eyes. The redhead encircled protective arms around the teary ten year old, "What's wrong? What did you lose? Did you have a nightmare?"

Max shook his head, "I-I can't find Mr Honeynuts--I-"

"Oh Max..." A mix of relief and sympathy welled up in David's eyes--It wasn't as bad as he thought it was, but he _understood_. Mr Honeynuts (Max's beloved teddy bear) was the last and only thing he ever got from his mother, it...It meant alot to him. The sentimental value of David's old camp t-shirt didn't even measure up to how much value Mr Honeynuts had to Max.

So, that meant David _had_ to find it! There was no way he was going to let Max lose one of the only possessions he cared about--Seeing how _his_ boy stitched the bear back together when parts of it's stuffing came out, Max only more recently going to David to ask if they could go buy the bear a new bowtie. It was safe to say, David wasn't going to let Max down.

The ten year old uncharacteristically sniffed--seeming like he almost wanted to cry, but it was unsure wether or not Max would feel comfortable crying over something he deemed 'uncool' to have, sentimental or not, in front of  _David_ or not.

Naturally, the sound broke his heart, "It's not safe to go looking around whilst it's raining but..." David thought, _then_ , he sighed, "How about this, you stay here where it's warm and I'll--"

"No!"

No? Max wasn't the sort of kid--Well, that was a lie, Max said no all the time. But this was different, this was a distressed sort of no, the sort of no someone cried when they absolutely did not want whatever event to occur. 

"I...I don't want to lose you too, ok...?"

David shook his head, an endearing smile tugging at his lips. He pulled the child to his chest, humming a relaxing pitch as he kissed the top of Max's head, "You silly...You won't lose me..." David pulled back then, running a hand through Max's hair, "How about this, you can sleep here with me tonight and in the morning we'll both go look for Mr Honeynuts?"

Max seemed to warm to that idea more--The boy nodding quietly into David's chest.

The counsellor smiled warmly and squeezed the boy lovingly, "Settle down, I'll go fetch you a thicker duvet,"

Max just stared after him, a longing yet guilty look in his eyes. Would he ever not feel like a total burden?

"Hey David...?" The boy murmured after the redhead returned.

"Yes, Max?"

"Don't fucking mention this to anyone else, okay?"

"Ok, Max," 

* * *

The next morning started off rather, well, out of order. Due to David's absence whilst him and Max hunted the grounds for well--they actually didn't specify, but Jasper knew it had to be something important! So he took charge and decided that he'd run the camp whilst David was busy and Gwen had 'woman sickness' (according to Nikki) Jasper had no idea what that meant, but he left it at that.

"Okay guys! Today is going to be a very bangin' day!"

Nikki and Neil looked between them, seeming unconvinced, "Uh--Jasper, where's Max?" Neil asked, an unwariness in his voice as he glanced around nervously for the short hot tempered boy. Max wasn't ever one to skip out on breakfast--He usually woke up earlier than Neil did, so waking up without the other boy wasn't a red flag in Neil's eyes, but Max  _never_ skipped out on breakfast--Gwen didn't let him, let alone David.

"And David?!" Nikki sprang up in addition, her chair falling backwards behind her, clanging against the floor causing a few of the other campers to jump in unwanted surprise. Nonetheless, she continued to speak chirpily, "He's always here to...Well. I actually don't know what David does," Nikki halted in her thoughts, confusion clouding her eyes--Neil stared at her with a look that read 'seriously?'.

"How about run the camp?" He then decided to suggest, leaving his comment hanging loose in the air. Without Max here it was up to him to anchor Nikki he supposed. 

Nikki blinked, her mind registering Neil's comment, an endearing, toothy grin adorning her lips, "That's it! Thanks, jew!"

The room went silent then as Jasper sharply gasped, his eyes wide in shock as he turned his eyes onto her, "Nikki! You can't call someone that! Thats very mean!" The man objected like a parent would to hearing their child swear for the first time. He shook his head frantically, "Apologise, right now!" 

"But it's true!" Nikki protested, confused to what she had done as she pointed to Neil, "He's jewish!"

Instantly--Wether in blind loyalty or from the adrenaline, the brunette leapt up, standing at his friend's side, "You tell him, Nikki!" Neil then blinked at his own outburst as if he hadn't even realised he had stood up in the first place, "Wait. Am I on your side or his?" Some of the campers--more namely a smug Harrison, snickered at that. Neil's cheeks went red.

The other's words seemed to confuse Nikki more than it had done Neil, "Wait, am I calling you a jew or is he calling you a jew?"

"Just, eat your breakfast, Nikki," Daniel finally cut in with an exasperated look on his face--The girl moving to collect her chair to sit down again, digging into her food like a wolf.

Shooting a grateful look to the blonde whilst he mouthed a 'thank you', Jasper then turned back to the entire camp, beaming, "Okie dokie gang! Today we're going to have a super stella day! We're going to go find your guy's mascot!" Jasper announced loudly, grinning--The campers seemed to brighten up at that, some even cheered, "Great! Finish up your breakfast and we'll head off!"

The blonde sat down in his chair, giddy at the response he received; Daniel gave him a look, raising a brow with an amused look glittering in his eyes, "Mascot hunting...?" Daniel questioned the other, who nodded.

"He's quite elusive according to David!" 

Daniel rolled his eyes, sighing, "Sure, Jasper...Sure," The blonde shook his head before stopping then, blinking. Where even was David? 

* * *

"Fuck!"

David shook his head, though the usual amusement he carried in tutting Max was more soft and held back, "Language, Max--We'll find him, I promise,"

Max spun around, scowling, "We've checked every tent now, David!" The boy protested before he sighed looking down to his feet, "We're never going to find him are we?" Max grumbled, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pocket--And even though David couldn't see the boy's hands, he knew Max was fidgeting to help ease his anxiety.

"Hey! Hey, Max...C'mon," David knelt down onto one knee, taking Max's hands, the sudden action causing the boy's eyes to turn up onto David, "We'll find him. I promised didn't I?"

The boy turned his eyes away, flustered, "Promises mean shit."

David smiled, shaking his head as he stood up, ruffling Max's hair as he did so, "Campbell Promises mean something though," David hummed to the boy, before grinning, putting both hands on his hips, "Well then, let's go look in the lost of found! Maybe someone found it and cashed it in!" The redhead then suggested, extending a hand for his ward to take.

 Max seemed vastly unsure--Doubt clear in his eyes, despite this he took David's hand with a sigh, "Fine. But if we don't find him there--"

"Now now Max! Don't lose hope before there's reason for you to!"

Max rolled his eyes, "Fatalism isn't a bad mindset right now, Davey--It'll keep you from wasting your time," 

David squeezed the smaller boy's hand but didn't look down, "My time is never wasted on you, Max. You know that," The child seemed taken off guard by that, but seemed subconsciously happy at the elder's words--It felt nice to be liked.

 "Ok," Max then said after a minute or two of silence, "Ok, we'll continue looking. But if we can't find it before lunch--" David cut him off with a smile.

"Then we'll get Gwen to help!" David piped, "And if we can't get her then we'll get Jasper! And if we still can't find it then we'll get the whole camp!" David exclaimed before grinning down at the child, "Don't worry, Max. We'll find him. Promise," His eyes were sincere, his gaze reassuring and familiar. Max tore his eyes away, his fists clenching in his hoodie, what was the point to any of this? 

Stubbornly, Max shook his head, "Whatever,"

* * *

 "Jasper--Jasper, hey! Where are we going?" Daniel barked up at the other blonde, a fatigued annoyance in his eyes as he continued to follow the other up the steep hill blanketed by forest, a trail of chatty campers behind him, "If you wanted us to hike up this mountain you could had said so!" The blue eyed man snapped to the other, wether he was amused by the situation or genuinely angry, it was hard to tell--Daniel's emotions were always blurry.

Jasper spun around on his heel, grinning from ear to ear--excitable, annoyingly so, "I told you! We're looking for the camp mascot, Platypus!" The camp counsellor exclaimed, proudly putting his hands on his hips, expelling an air of confidence which only irked Daniel. 

"Yeah, well, hiking wasn't my favourite thing about signing up to this stupid summer job, so can't we go look somewhere else for this stupid animal?" The blonde grumbled, taking a water bottle out of his used-to-be-white backpack to drink from, "Like I don't know, the fucking fields past the camp grounds?" Jasper waggled his finger at him then--scolding him from the cursing like a tutting mother, something Daniel was used to all too well (he had roomed with Jasper in college after all) but it still got on his nerves.

Why was he so irritable today anyway?

Smiling still, Jasper turned away from his cherished companion, "The hiking is good for the kids! Besides," He flickered his gaze back to the said campers, "They seem to be enjoying this," Daniel rolled his eyes as he followed Jasper's gaze, well...

 

"Give it back, you ass!" Preston screeched in protest, clawing at Dolph as the shorter boy laughed his head off, holding what looked to be a fake skull in his hand--a prop most likely from Preston's plays. 

Neil shook his head pretentiously, "Amateurs... If Max was here he'd just kick Preston in the shin and take it. He wouldn't wave it around like that," The brunette muttered from where he stood, walking along side Harrison and Nerris (Nikki had abandoned him a while ago to start swinging around in the trees like some damn monkey).

"Where is Max anyway?" Nerris inquired innocently, walking with her hands behind her back--Like usual her braces made it hard to hear what she was trying to convey, but Neil understood. It was the twentieth time he had been asked this today since breakfast. Everyone seemed to be curious about Max's disappearance on top of David's--Though it wasn't like any of them new about the fostering situation, that was something only Nikki and Neil really knew. The question made Neil wonder, maybe the two had gone into town for something?

Unconsciously he answered, "Probably skipping," But he knew that wasn't the real answer. Max never skipped camp activities alone, he'd always take Neil and Nikki (if it wasn't something adventurous) with him. Maybe David finally bucked up the courage and asked Max the question? Neil smiled at that--an grossly cheery and giddy smile, one he and Max would usually make fun of. But no, he'd be ecstatic for his friend, if David had done it. Max deserved a home, he deserved one with David, one where he'd come home to annoyingly catchy songs on the guitar and smores. David had even asked him and Nikki before if Max had said anything regarding a desire to be adopted by him--so they _knew_ he was thinking about it.

"Uh...Neil?"

Neil snapped out of the thought, "Yeah?" He looked at Harrison--The magician looked concerned, yet, intrigued. He donned his own smile.

"You were grinning like a school girl," Nerris chipped in then, looking like a mouse standing beside lions, "Like something out of Junjou Romantica when Misaki---"

"Remembering something?" Harrison cut her off, his curiosity taking over his usual etiquette and yet he was still smiling, though this time cheeky, "A beloved memory of me, maybe?" He asked, cheeky and smug--The pretentious little bastard.

Neil shoved him, "Shut up, Harrison," He retorted loosely. He wasn't in the best mood to come up with a good come back or something witty to tell him, so he just shrugged as he told them a blurry version truth, "I was just thinking about some family related stuff. The best possible outcome or some shit, it doesn't matter," The brunette shut down the conversation smoothly. Harrison still seemed curious but he left it at that. "I wonder what David's up to," Neil then stated, changing the conversation topic.

Harrison blinked, before shrugging himself, "Probably off fixing something with Campbell--Maybe he went into town? I don't know," The older brunette suggested before taking a second to think, "It is pretty weird that he's not with us today...Gwen I get, but David? He never skips out on us--It must be something serious," The said words made Neil's skin crawl, did something happen to Max? Something bad?

"Maybe a dragon invaded the lower regions of the camp!" Nerris squealed, grabbing onto Harrison's sleeve, "We'll have to put our magical abilities together again to stop it!" Her eyes sparkled with an eager excitement, one Harrison regretfully shut down.

"Or he's preparing something big for tomorrow?" Harrison brought up, turning his gaze back onto Neil, "Like a big game or something?" Harrison grinned then, "Like a giant magic show!"

"Or a pvp battle with friendly fire!" The trio became silent as they turned their eyes onto Nurf as the chubby bully chimed in. Their eyes accusatory and annoyed, "Fine! I'll go! God why is society so biased that it attacks the fat kids. Fat shaming is a thing world!" With Nurf leaving the conversation, it returned to its usual state.

Nerris hummed, "That'd be fun! Yeah! David must be off doing that!"

Neil bit his lip. He hoped so too. But if David was doing that then what was Max doing? Was he with him? What was he doing with him? Why did he skip out on him? Was he sick? Was he hurt?--Neil's head hurt. He was worried, that was for sure. He looked around the trees for Nikki--He needed to talk to his blue haired companion, they needed to go find Max, something was wrong.

"Stop worrying," Neil jumped as a hand found itself onto his shoulder. Harrison.

"I wasn't--"

Harrison shook his head, "You were. I can tell, Neil, you start to space out and look panicked. David and Max are both fine, I'm sure of it--Now, let's continue this totally-not-a-hike-hike up the mountain, ok?" The brunette asked, grinning again. Neil sighed, giving in as he nodded. Maybe it was better if he didn't look for Max? Maybe he just needed space.

"Ok," Neil agreed, smiling.

* * *

 

It had taken a good two hours, but David had found it. He had finally found it. Stuck in a tree, blown away by the wind from the storm last night or something. He grinned, snatching up the bear--He was so happy, no, ecstatic. Max had been so close to giving up, but now--! Now he didn't have to, because David had found it. 

"Max~! Guess what I found?"

Max didn't turn around from where he sat, hunched over at the desk in the counsellor's cabin eating his breakfast, but he did retort snarkily, "A life?" The black haired boy questioned before rolling his eyes, "Please tell me you've actually realised there's no point to continuing to look?" He then asked, stuffing his mouth full with a bite of the bacon butty (one of David's specialties), "Cos then you'd stop wasting your time," He then added with his mouth full.

"Nope!" David practically pranced over to the desk, pulling the bear from behind his back to put the toy on the desk in front of the plate Max was wolfing down food from, "It's---"

"Mr Honeynuts!" Max practically squealed, grabbing the bear with both arms, hugging it tight to his chest, "You found him!" David grinned, letting out a slight yelp as Max turned around and hugged him tight.

Laughing softly, David wrapped his arms around Max's petite frame, hugging him back, "Of course I did, Max! I told you we'd find him, didn't I?" Max nodded into his chest, still holding the bear tight one of his arms.

Max uncharacteristically grinned into the hug, "Thank you thank you thank you!" He tore away then, holding the bear at arms length, "I thought I lost him!" He exclaimed before hugging the bear tight to his chest again. David smiled at the sight. He adored seeing Max happy like this, he deserved to be happy--even for just a moment so that he could stop being to angry at the world.

He wished he could give the child that sort of happiness...

"Eat your breakfast, Max," David hummed with a smile, "We'll join the rest of the camp at lunch--Do you want anything particular to eat?" David then asked as Max hopped back into the desk chair, continuing to eat his breakfast with a shake of his head as the answer to the question, "Alrighty then. I'll go check up on Gwen, you stay here, alright?"

"Fine by me,"

David smiled with a nod as he turned and headed down the hall towards Gwen's room. A nagging feeling in the back of his head. Something was wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oml i cannot wait to upload the next chapter for you guys haha  
> lets just say some stuff goes down hehehehheheheh
> 
> after writing and re-writing this chapter I've finally decided to leave Max as he is in this chapter. He's a little OOC, but rightfully so I think--He's lost a memento of his mother (you can decide wether she's dead or not) that also acts as his teddy bear (something that would help him sleep), he seemed pretty ecstatic to get it back in the show, so I presume it'd terrify him when he lost it. (IDK) You decide haha
> 
> prepare yourself for a long and heavy chapter that'll be out next week some time!  
> It'll uh...It might make some of you hate me, but yanno, haha ITS FOR STORY PURPOSES I SWEAR.
> 
> ok imma go now before i spoil anything major  
> byeeee
> 
> OH. PS  
> if anyone watches supernatural here please tell me if it gets better in season 3 (season two is pissing me off) 
> 
> ok im going now


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